Thinking Out Loud
by Dara Torres
Summary: It's Felicity's birthday but no one has contacted her by now, and to make it even better she is having a bad day at QC. What she can't imagine is that someone very special is setting up everything so she remembers this day forever... Olicity. AU. One Shot.


_Written for Magda, I really hope you like it dear, thanks for the inspiration. Everyone else: I hope you like it too. We're now all a little damaged after season 3 mid season finale and I needed to write something happy, something to cheer me (and maybe you) up. I've tried my best.  
A few things before leaving you to the ff. There are two songs on the story that also inspired me while writting it, you will discover them as you read but for those who like to listen to music while reading (as I do): maybe you would like to put Ed Sheeran on the background... just saying :) That's all._  
_Enjoy_.

_**Dara.**_

* * *

"John, for the hundredth time: do not touch the cake! Just put it on the fridge and let it be" – Lyla said in a very serious tone. She had baked the thing herself and was proud of it, but her soon-to-be husband seemed incapable of keep himself away of it. And she knew how much he liked cakes, even if he didn't look like he would even touch a candy.  
"Ok, ok. I'll behave, but only because it is meant to surprise her and all of us want it to be as perfect as possible" – he answered, closing the fridge's door. – "By the way, Roy send me a text with the time: show starts at nine one hundred tonight" – he took Sara from her playground as he informed Lyla. – "Be punctual or Oliver will kill us. Seriously."  
"I will. In fact, I was about to tell you that I don't need to go back to the 'office' today, so maybe we can get ready together and so on" – she smiled while saying it. She hasn't had a free day in so long, she couldn't even believe it yet. John seemed startled but happy at the same time and nodded right before sitting on the living room's couch with Sara on his lap, ready to play with her as he did every day after having lunch.  
"I already can feel that today is gonna be a great day" he said, at the same time as Sara started laughing.

* * *

If someone knew how to organize a party, that was Thea Queen. And as she gave her employees some last commands, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about Tommy and how much he liked parties as well and even organizing them for the people he cared about, like Oliver. She smiled at the mere thought of him being there, witnessing everything his best friend had asked her to do for a woman. Because Oliver could say anything he wanted, it was pretty obvious that he wouldn't be doing this for anyone else that wasn't herself or that day's birthday girl. She knew her brother very well and Oliver only took the time of doing things like this for those whom he loved dearly.  
"Woah, Thea this place looks amazing!" – Roy said as he entered the Verdant again: he had left that morning to pick up some things Thea had asked him to. He left some boxes carefully on the bottom of the stairs that lead to the manager's office.  
The place did look awesome indeed. Oliver told her sister that he trusted in her good taste and her natural capacities to organize a sophisticated and special birthday party. In fact, he also knew that Felicity didn't like to be the center of attention so even if it was going to be a huge party, the VIP are will be reserved only for them to enjoy a private area, which was at one of the sides of the club.  
Roy kept walking through the dance floor that looked nothing like one at the moment: a lot of people were working hard giving the last touch under Thea's directions. An employee was hanging a huge and spectacular chandelier while some others were decorating some columns with tiny lights, others were putting jars with red and white carnations on the counter of the bar, more of them putting a new list of cocktails that they would be offering that night and getting everything they would need, ready; the DJ's mixing table was now on one side of the small stage and two guys were arranging some mics and amplifiers in the center.

"Live performance?" – Roy asked, surprised.  
"Yes. It's the huge surprise of the night. Only a few of us know who it will be, so the people of Starling that will be here tonight are lucky ones" – She replied, smiling. Even she was surprised when her brother had told her who was coming to perform.  
"She is gonna love it" – Roy said, imagining her reaction, which would be something to witness for sure.  
"I hope so; I've never seen Oliver so worried about a party before. What am I saying? He didn't even bothered to organize a party ever before"  
"It's a special occasion"  
"It's a special girl" – Thea corrected, smiling.

* * *

At Queen Consolidated everything had been a nightmare for Felicity that morning: meetings, last time calls about some details on projects she didn't really know about but that had to be informed to other heads of departments on the company… She didn't even have time to have a cup of coffee, something that only helped to make her grumpier. She hanged up the phone and closed her eyes of a second, trying to calm down. It wasn't how she was expecting to spend her birthday, without even a call from Roy or Diggle. Not even her own mother. Nothing to light her day up, no one to cheer her up.

"Felicity!" – Someone called from the office next to hers. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes again and head there.  
"Do you know that you have a very useful phone that's connected to mine? Right there, just a few inches away of your hand Oliver. Right next to the cup of coffee you could have while I was dealing with some Palmer guy that I don't care about because, you know what? This was supposed to be a cover job, not an actual one…" – she rambled on, letting out part of what was pissing her off that day. Olived stared at her, waiting for her to finish, with his hands crossed on the table over some papers he had to sign earlier. – "What do you want?"  
"I need you to go downstairs to hand over these papers so they can send them to our office in Gotham, would you please do it?"- he knew she was angry so he tried not to piss her off even more.  
She looked at him for some long seconds with a serious expression on her face before answering.  
"You know this will mean at least a week off, right?" – She said, affirming more than asking, at the same time she took the papers and headed out.  
"Thank you!..." – Oliver half-shouted, hiding a smile while he saw her leaving. As soon as he heard the elevator leaving, he grabbed his phone, dialed a number and called it.  
"Hello Mrs. Smoak, have you already arrived to Starling? ... Great, I hope you get to your hotel soon and you can get ready for tonight. If you need anything please don't hesitate on asking for it… Yes, she doesn't suspect a thing, even though I think she is a bit pissed for giving her so much work here today… Yes, I'm sure it will be worthy. Ok, talk to you later… Hugs back" – he hung up and hurried to make another call, quickly before she was back - "Thea, everything ready? I'll send her home in a while and I need that on her doorstep when she gets there… Ok. I do trust you little sister. Ok, tell Roy to hurry up. Meet you home in one hour more or less… Love you, bye".

This whole thing had him on edge since he came up with the plan last month. He didn't want her to suspect anything, and he had told his closest friends so they could help him out in order for it to be perfect. So far, Thea had everything ready at Verdant, Laurel had already went with him to pick the perfect dress for Felicity the day before and Roy was going to drop the package on her door anytime now. Lyla insisted on baking the birthday cake since she didn't trust any bakery shop on doing the perfect cake that was needed that day, something that made him, Diggle and Roy crack a smile since they didn't quite expect her to be so serious about it. On the other hand, Oliver made sure Donna Smoak made it to the party as well and reached to her some weeks back; she had loved the idea and was very excited about the whole thing being a big surprise for her girl. And Laurel had invited her dad, so Captain Lance was on the guest list too. A list that was very long since the whole IT department of QC were invited; Oliver knew Felicity had some acquaintances there and that it would be good for her to see some familiar faces among the unknown people that was also attending that night.

Oliver smiled as soon as he saw her going back to her desk. He was eager for everything to start already, he wanted to see her face, he wanted to see her reaction when she saw her mother again after some months appart, and he also needed to know if she was going to like his present for her…

* * *

As soon as she reached her door, she saw a white bag waiting for her. It had the name of one of the most known, special and elegant shops of the city and she couldn't hide her surprise when she read the note addressed to her:

_"Mrs. Felicity Smoak, you are cordially invited to a very special date tonight and what is in the box is only an advance of what is to come. We kindly ask for you to wear it and be prepared at 8:30 PM, someone will pick you up then and take you to what we hope will be the night you deserve.  
Yours faithfully,  
Team Arrow."_

She read it two times and smiled at the same time a tear fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Without losing a single second, she took the package and entered home to get herself ready and very curious about the gift she had just received.  
Someone, at the other side of the street, hidden behind some bushes, had seen that she received the gift. As soon as he saw her entering her place, Roy called Oliver:

"She got it. And I think she has agreed to come…"

* * *

Everyone was already on the club and they had specific orders to follow in just a few minutes, when the honored one arrived the place. In order for it to happen, Thea commanded not to serve alcohol until the party started to avoid problems. Everyone there knew and if they were still in there was because they had agreed to that single rule.

On the VIP area everything was also ready: Lyla's cake was on the center of a table which was very beautifully decorated white and red carnation petals around it. Roy was playing with little Sara on his arms, while Diggle and Lyla talked to Donna Smoak, who was even more excited about this whole thing now. Quentin Lance and Laurel had just arrived and were greeting everyone else and Thea was giving the last instructions to the manager of the invited artist, who was ready in the back of the club to appear when he was told to.  
Oliver, on the other hand, was near the entrance of the Verdant, waiting for the signal that meant that she had arrived, something that should happen anytime now. He was nervous and couldn't keep himself from walking up and down the door. He was wearing an elegant navy blue suit that Thea picked up for him and looked sexy and gracious as his sister – and some girls already at the club – had told him.

Something attracted his attention on the other side of the door and he knew that was it. He reached of one of the Verdant's guys and told him to get everyone else ready. Suddenly, everyone remained silent and the ones near the door made a path, the lights went off except for a spotlight directed to where Oliver was waiting and someone got on stage. She got there leaded by a security guard, blind folded, and Oliver hold his breath as soon as he saw her: Felicity was wearing the incredibly precious electric dress he had picked for her, high heels and had her waved hair was down. She looked astonishing, more than Oliver had ever imagined. He reached for her hand and the security guy helped her to do so.  
Oliver got near her and whispered a "Happy birthday" on her ear at the same time that he untied the fold that was keeping her from seeing everything that was going on. As soon as she got used to the light, she mumbled a very low "Oh my God…" before directing her eyes to the man besides her, the man who was leading her to the center of some kind of huge room. Before she could realized it was the main floor of the Verdant, the music started to play and she looked to the stage where a voice she recognized started to sing her new favorite song: 'Thinking Out Loud'.  
She also witnessed as little lights started to appear out of the dark until it was like a sea of stars around her. A couple of professional dancers did a beautiful choreography in front of her, before Oliver handed his hand inviting her to dance. She smiled and accepted, feeling his body pressed against hers in no time.  
"Do you like it?" - he asked her as he looked at her in the eyes and making her feel a thousand of butterflies on her stomach.  
"I love it Oliver, this is like a dream" - she answered him, still smiling.  
"That was the point" - he said, smiling back.

The song ended and someone turned the lights on, but not the ones she was used to but decoration lights that were distributed all over the place. It was beautiful. She could see all the people that was there and she recognized some of them from QC while she had no idea of who were the majority of the other people which made her laugh: They wanted the place crowded no matter what, that had to be her idea.

"Come" - Oliver invited her, leading her to one of the sides of the club at the same time that a DJ took control of the situation and put everyone else to dance. It wasn't about them anymore, that was a private part of the party now and only a few people were invited.

As soon as they reached the VIP room, she froze at the surprise of seeing everyone she cared about there: she greeted them one by one but it wasn't until she reached the last person when she really let a scream left her.  
"OMG Mom! You are here!" - Felicity said while hugging the blonde woman.  
"Of course I am here dear, it's your birthday and I wouldn't miss it this time" - she replied, letting tears of happiness stream down her cheeks.  
"Thank you mom, thank you for being here" – she said, putting all of her heart on those words. It meant the world to her to have her mother there. "Thank you all for being here, truly" – she said after letting Donna go, but still by her side.  
"We're all happy you like it, it's been a big pain in the ass to keep it from you Felicity. You're a very hard woman to fool! You almost caught us a couple of times" – Diggle was the one talking, with Sara on his arms and Lyla by her side.  
They all laughed with his words before Roy offered them all a glass of champagne to make a toast:  
"Happy Birthday blondie" – they all raised their glasses at the same time and shouted at the same time: "To Felicity!".

The night went on in a very light mood, she talked to all of them there and reached out to talk to some of her former colleges of the IT department that were waiting for her outside the reserved area.  
Soon enough it was time for her to blow the candles of her cake and to open up her presents, which she loved. They took a 'family photo' as Laurel called it, and she sit on one of the high chairs watching around her, enjoying the time they were giving her, letting the joy and happiness took control of her soul: she was so thankful that she couldn't even express herself with words. After everything that happened recently, all the sorrow and despair, they all made the effort of giving her such a beautiful surprise.  
She was brought back from her thoughts when Oliver approached her.

"Are you ok?" – he asked, a little bit worried.  
"Yes, yes. Of course I am. Did you prepare all of this?" – she was really curious about the person responsible for that surprise party.  
"We all did" – he replied.  
"Come on Ollie, it was your idea. We only helped with this and that" – Thea interrupted him as she took another piece of cake from the table behind Oliver, and quickly leaving them alone giggling after her brother gave her one of his looks.  
Oliver smiled when he looked again at Felicity. She was staring at him, smiling at him, thankful beyond imaginable and with such a lovely look on her eyes that it was being very difficult for him to keep his distance. She knew that Oliver didn't like parties and even less to organize them, but he still had done all of this for her.  
"I have something for you… It's not a big thing, but I hope you like it" – Oliver took a small box from his pocket and gave it to her.

Felicity took it, untied the tiny bow on top, and opened the box. What she saw left her without words for the first time in her life: it was an arrowhead, in silver, with a chain so it could be used as a pendant. She knew immediately that Oliver had done it himself and she couldn't believe it. Maybe she was dreaming, maybe it was all happening on her head… but Oliver took the pendant and went behind Felicity to fasten the chain on her neck, leaving the arrow pendant rest on her chest.  
Felicity didn't let him go, and grabbed his hand, still on the chain. She looked at him in the eye and told him:  
"I love it… Thank you so much Oliver. I don't know what else to say but I need you to know that I love this, that it means a lot for me and that I will never forget this" – she smiled so bright that Oliver could feel his heart beats racing up.  
"You deserve this and more Felicity. I just want you to be happy" – he said. "But there is one more thing I need you to see tonight".

Without saying anything else, they both left the VIP area, followed by everyone else except from Lyla that waited there with her baby. Oliver led her to the center of the dance floor and the music stopped. The DJ asked for everyone to take some steps back from where Oliver and Felicity were standing facing each other, and the lights were completely off once again. Ed Sheeran took control of the stage one more time and after wishing Felicity a Happy Birthday he continued by saying that the next song had a very special meaning, that it was a song meant for soulmates and that the man in front of her had asked him to sing it for her. "One, two, three, four…" and then 'Kiss Me' filled the room, and Oliver smiled at her, starting to dance again and pressing his body against her. This time he hide his face on her collar, making the dance even more private. Sending chills down her spine while he breathed her scent. He pulled himself away to be able to face her.

"I hope that by now, you know how I feel about the woman I am looking at right now. Felicity, I know two things about myself: the first is that I am someone that would do anything for my sister." – he spoke slowly, letting her take in every single word.  
"And the second one?" – she asked.  
"I love you" – he smiled at her, as it was the most obvious thing on the universe. He looked at her in the eyes like if there was no one watching them, like if the only thing that matters were them and what he had just told her clearly for the first time. After dangling maybes this was him telling her something that deep down, she already knew but hadn't let herself be aware of. This was Oliver telling her that she was the one, that she was his light.  
And slowly, as they heard the song far away, he leaned to her to meet her lips with his. To become one and to make clear that he was not letting her go again.


End file.
